Looking at CAISO demand and supply of electricity during extreme California temperatures.
Temperatures in parts of California today will exceed 105°F (40°C) and in places, Indio for example, will reach around 120°F (49°C). Air conditioning will be cranking up for sure, and will be working at lower efficiency.
We are nearing the summer solstice, and of course, California is a putative solar energy nirvana.
Real time data is available at the CAISO website: CAISO Website.
A short while ago, I downloaded some graphics.
Demand and demand forecast for 06/16/21:
Overall Energy Supply
Since I check this website frequently, and have been doing so as we approach the solstice, we can expect that so called "renewable energy" will be dominated by solar production in the early afternoon, which should approach peak power of 13,000 MW.
Impressive, no?
Well, demand will peak as the sun falls, so there's that.
Not much wind is blowing this morning. Maybe it will change, who knows. When and if is not known.
Gas was dominating when I downloaded the graphics, and it will dominate near the peak.
Some people, me for instance, believe the regular occurrence of these kind of high temperature weather events is connected with climate change.
After half a century of wild cheering for so called "renewable energy," it is still - I contend always will be - dependent on dangerous natural gas.
There is one nuclear plant left in California, Diablo Canyon (2 reactors). It is producing about 2,278 MW of electricity in two small buildings, more than all the wind turbines in California. The reactor came on line 36 years ago, and is functioning fine, but well, it's being closed and no replacements are planned in California. (The production of electricity at this plant may fall slightly as the temperature rises in the afternoon, because of changes in thermodynamic efficiency connected with high temperatures, but certainly output will not fall below 2,200 MW). It's reliable and predictable.
Unfortunately this nuclear plant is about to close because of appeals to ignorance. That will raise the dependency of gas on California.
Dangerous natural gas is not clean; it is not safe, and it releases significant amounts of the important dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide, and leaks for the transport and use of dangerous natural gas releases the second most important climate forcing gas, methane.
There is a serious risk of California, particularly Southern California, becoming uninhabitable. You may think I'm being extreme here, but I don't think so.
We're kidding ourselves if we think we're doing anything to address climate change.
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It is now 101°F (38°C) in San Bernardino, CA, with a light breeze blowing. The temperature is forecasted to remain at this point for the next two hours.
Current power demand on the California/CAISO grid is as of 13:00, 34,020 MW. It is now predicted to peak at 40,634 MW at around 17:45.
The so called "renewable portion" is shown in the following graphic downloaded at around 12:50:
Roughly half of the power in California, near noon, near the summer solstice, is coming from the combustion of dangerous natural gas. The waste product of this combustion, the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide is being dumped directly into the planetary atmosphere, which is accumulating this waste at a record pace.
The total breakdown of so called "renewable energy" being generated in California, parts of which are experiencing extreme temperatures is as follows:
Solar output seems to have peaked at 11,370 MW at around 12:20 PDT.
It doesn't appear the wind is blowing all that strongly in California. Would the German word be Wendeflaute?
California's only nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo, is producing the same amount of power it was this morning, still more than all the wind turbines in California, and doing so in two small buildings.